Halopedia:Projects/Installation 04 Mapping
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
The Installation 04 Mapping Project aims to cross-reference material from the various games and written material available to attempt to create a comprehensive geographical plan of Installation 04 for it's various related pages. As this will involve detailed examinations of all of this material, it will likely spoil details from those pieces of media.
Goals[edit]
Current research[edit]
Several sources have started to create a more defined picture of Alpha Halo. As such, we can begin to cross reference this information to form a more cohesive look at the installation.
- In 2019, Reddit and Twitter user Incredible Canemian used information from the games and books to narrow down the distances explored on the ring. The original Twitter thread was lost along with the account, but a visual summarizing the overall scale of the rings can be found on this post on the Halo subreddit. Distances were determined using statements from Halo: Combat Evolved and The Flood, the locations of Threshold and Basis in the skybox, and vehicle max speeds to narrow down how far characters could've traveled in a given timeframe. Seven years later this same internet user created a video under a different username. The video included all of the information from the original Twitter thread while also including information from the Installation 04 Risk board and the aftermath of Halo's destruction in Halo: Nightfall.
Official maps[edit]
To begin with, here are the textures of the ring from Halo: Campaign Evolved.
Resources[edit]
Primary resources[edit]
- Halo: Combat Evolved - Set on and around the ring, Halo: Combat Evolved gives a detailed and the first look at the ring.
- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary does largely the same thing as the original game, though with some changes here and there.
- Halo: The Flood - A novelization of Halo: Combat Evolved, the book follows the plot of the original game with extra details.
- Halo: Reach - Although not as detailed as other the other titles, Halo: Reach has several experiences related to Installation 04.
- RISK: Halo: Legendary Edition - Features several playable, labelled boards of Installation 04.
- Halo: Fireteam Raven - A parallel story to Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: The Flood
- Halo: Campaign Evolved - A complete reimagining of Halo: Combat Evolved featuring new information and a new version of the ring.
Additional resources[edit]
- Halo Graphic Novel - A features two short stories set around the time of the Battle of Installation 04.
- Halo 5: Guardians - Features two maps set above and on Installation 04, though in simulation.
- Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) - Features some details about the installation and it's topography.
Books[edit]
Chapter headings[edit]
Halo:The Flood chapter heading paths[edit]
- Prologue: UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn, location uknown.
- Chapter 1: UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn, location uknown.
- Chapter 2: Command HEV, in combat drop to surface of Halo.
- Chapter 3: Surface.
- Chapter 4: Pelican Echo-419, in flight.
- Chapter 5: On the plain surrounding the Pillar of Autumn.
- Chapter 6: The hills between Alpha Base and the Pillar of Autumn.
- Chapter 7: Aboard Cruiser, Truth and Reconciliation, above Halo's surface.
- Chapter 8: Pelican Echo-419, approaching Covenant arms cache.
- Chapter 9: Pelican Echo-419, above Covenant arms cache.
- Chapter 10: Halo Control Room.
- Chapter 11: On board the Truth and Reconciliation.
- Chapter 12: Commandered Banshee, on approach to the Pillar of Autumn.
Games[edit]
RISK: Halo: Legendary Edition[edit]
The game boards for Installation 04 included in RISK.
The game boards "Hammer" and "Anvil" included in RISK, which can combine to create a Forge World-inspired map.
Locational hierarchy[edit]
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Halo: Campaign Evolved[edit]
Environment Details[edit]
A view of the ring on CEV:Halo.
A view of the ring on CEV:Halo.
A view of the ring on CEV:Halo.
A view of the ring on CEV:The Silent Cartographer.
A view of the ring on CEV:The Silent Cartographer.
A view of the ring on CEV:The Silent Cartographer.
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Orbital views[edit]
The ring from orbit on CEV:The Pillar of Autumn.
The ring exploding from a close orbit on CEV:The Maw
The ring exploding from orbit on CEV:The Maw
Confirmed information[edit]
- The map Tempest was confirmed in a Canon Fodder to be set on Installation 04.[1] When in the map, the edges of the ring can be seen much clearer then previously, giving us a rough position for the map on the ring's interior.
- The map Ridgeline was confirmed on Halo Waypoint to be set on Installation 04.[2][3] It is also seen on the board for RISK.
- The Legendary ending for CEV:The Maw, although written mostly in a joking manner, does show the Autumn's Fusion drive detonating in the desert visible near the Silent Cartographer.
- In CE:Two Betrayals, Halo: The Flood, and CEV:Two Betrayals, Cortana says:
"The Pillar of Autumn is located twelve hundred kilometers up-spin."
- This confirms that the canyons of CE:Assault on the Control Room and CE: Two Betrayals are 1200 kilometers down-spin from the Pillar of Autumn crash site.
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Discrepancies[edit]
Depiction in Halo: Campaign Evolved[edit]
In Halo: Campaign Evolved, the ring is depicted using two different ring textures; one that is used in the skybox model and another one used in the cutscene for the ring's destruction in CEV:The Maw. As well, in some of the ring models used in the skybox, the texture is flipped from the actual file.
A comparison of the two ring textures.
Other Depictions[edit]
- Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: Reach - Installation 04 is depicted with the same surface features in both Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: Reach.
- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - The Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: Reach surface design was used as a basis for a slightly different version of the ring texture in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
- RISK: Halo: Legendary Edition - The large board for Risk design not match any previous or post-release design.
- Halo 5: Guardians - In the map Truth, Installation 04 is depicted with a new texture.
Halo: Combat Evolved ring texture.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary ring texture.
Halo 5: Guardians ring texture.
Other[edit]
- In CE:Halo, Cortana says:
"New traffic on the Covenant battlenet. I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the Autumn. The Truth and Reconciliation touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers up-spin."
- This would confirm the relative position of Halo to CE:The Truth and Reconciliation. However, this line does not appear in Halo: The Flood nor is it in CEV:Halo, rendering it's canonicity dubious.
Using above info[edit]
Locational hierarchy[edit]
Based on everything above, here is the hierarchy for surface locations on Installation 04.
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Applying to visual media[edit]
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Theorycrafting[edit]
- During the level Rubble, Wellsley says "Proceed with the convoy to Alpha Base. Major Silva will brief you when you arrive.". HFR:Alpha Base takes place in a desert environment. Given the implication that Fireteam Raven drove to Alpha Base, this implies it is in the same desert as the Autumn's crash site. This is supported by the fact that the force sent to raid the crash site in Halo: The Flood arrive in warthogs and scorpion tanks. The warthogs were then used to pull resources from the Pillar of Autumn back to Alpha Base. This confirms that even if there is another biome between the deserts around the Autumn and Alpha Base, the terrain between them is flat enough to transport resources via warthog.
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Cleanup[edit]
Locations[edit]
- This section is a stub. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.
See also[edit]
- Sanghelios Mapping Project
- Reach Mapping Project
- Installation 07 Mapping Project
- Mombasa Mapping Project
Sources[edit]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Feet First Into Fall (Retrieved on Sep 29, 2025) [archive]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, The Halo Bulletin: 11/9/11 (Retrieved on Nov 13, 2011) [archive]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Halo: Reach maps - Ridgeline (Retrieved on Oct 12, 2014) [archive]
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